Info Favorites Register Log in
myArmoury.com Discussion Forums

Forum index Memberlist Usergroups Spotlight Topics Search
Forum Index > Off-topic Talk > Looking for References on China, 14th-16th century Reply to topic
This is a standard topic  
Author Message
Jeff Hsieh





Joined: 26 Jan 2004

Posts: 59

PostPosted: Sun 18 Dec, 2005 7:11 am    Post subject: Looking for References on China, 14th-16th century         Reply with quote

Despite my long interest in medieval Europe, I recently discovered that I know next to nothing about my own military heritage. I'd like to do some reading up on China over Christmas break and I'm looking for good starting references. I'm looking for books on weapons, armor and military organization. Reliable general history books are good too.

Thanks!
Jeff Hsieh

"Tuitio fidei et obsequium pauperum."
- The Knights Hospitaller, 1130 AD
View user's profile Send private message
Hisham Gaballa





Joined: 27 Jan 2005
Reading list: 7 books

Posts: 508

PostPosted: Sun 18 Dec, 2005 3:15 pm    Post subject: Re: Looking for References on China, 14th-16th century         Reply with quote

Jeff Hsieh wrote:
Despite my long interest in medieval Europe, I recently discovered that I know next to nothing about my own military heritage. I'd like to do some reading up on China over Christmas break and I'm looking for good starting references. I'm looking for books on weapons, armor and military organization. Reliable general history books are good too.

Thanks!
Jeff Hsieh


I must confess I know hardly anything about China in this period. However a good starting point is Osprey books. They may not be particularly accurate, and the artists have a terrible habit of taking liberties in their "reconstructions", but they give a good general idea, are relatively cheap and accessible,and usually have fairly comprehensive bibliographies.

Try these:
http://www.myArmoury.com/books/item.php?ASIN=1855322544
http://www.myArmoury.com/books/item.php?ASIN=1855326558

You can probably get them from Amazon.
View user's profile Send private message
Chris Lampe




Location: United States
Joined: 07 Mar 2005

Posts: 211

PostPosted: Sun 18 Dec, 2005 3:37 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Hisham,

Scott Rodell (author of "Chinese Swordsmanship" and owner of Seven Stars Trading) has provided a good bibilography on Chinese history that you might want to look at. I expect some of these will be difficult to find but some are widely available.


http://forums.swordforum.com/showthread.php?s...bliography
View user's profile Send private message AIM Address
Felix Wang




Location: Fresno, CA
Joined: 23 Aug 2003
Reading list: 17 books

Spotlight topics: 1
Posts: 394

PostPosted: Sun 18 Dec, 2005 6:02 pm    Post subject: Re: Looking for References on China, 14th-16th century         Reply with quote

Jeff Hsieh wrote:
Despite my long interest in medieval Europe, I recently discovered that I know next to nothing about my own military heritage. I'd like to do some reading up on China over Christmas break and I'm looking for good starting references. I'm looking for books on weapons, armor and military organization. Reliable general history books are good too.

Thanks!
Jeff Hsieh


1587, a year of no significance was written by Ray Huang. It is not a general history, but a slice of life in the declining Ming Empire - how a government can fossilize and ruin itself because of internal politics. One-third of the book is devoted to Ch'i Chi-Kuang, and shows how a clever general was able to defeat Japanese (and others) pirate threat in a series of land battles. He did it with an army of peasants, carefully trained.

General history on China is difficult, since it is such a massive subject. You might find Cultural Atlas of China to be useful. It is profusely illustrated and breaks the mass of material into digestible chunks. Ebrey's Cambridge Illustrated History - China is a more conventional overview, but still manageable.
View user's profile Send private message
Felix Wang




Location: Fresno, CA
Joined: 23 Aug 2003
Reading list: 17 books

Spotlight topics: 1
Posts: 394

PostPosted: Sun 18 Dec, 2005 6:05 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

The atlas was written by Blunden and Elvin, by the way. Neither book is really recent, but for most of Chinese history that is not a problem; it would be if you were concentrated on the 20th century.
View user's profile Send private message
Jeff Hsieh





Joined: 26 Jan 2004

Posts: 59

PostPosted: Wed 21 Dec, 2005 7:59 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Thanks for the replies, they were very helpful. It's library time.
"Tuitio fidei et obsequium pauperum."
- The Knights Hospitaller, 1130 AD
View user's profile Send private message


Display posts from previous:   
Forum Index > Off-topic Talk > Looking for References on China, 14th-16th century
Page 1 of 1 Reply to topic
All times are GMT - 8 Hours

View previous topic :: View next topic
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum






All contents © Copyright 2003-2024 myArmoury.com — All rights reserved
Discussion forums powered by phpBB © The phpBB Group
Switch to the Basic Low-bandwidth Version of the forum